The Hour

Recently, I started exploring more of salvationhistory.com, Scott Hahn's site for Biblical literacy, and decided to poke through the "Audio Resources" page. I came across his lecture about "The Hour" that Scott had given to us on our Holy Land pilgrimage in May. I am so fascinated with this concept in John's Gospel about "the hour" that I feel called to explain it to not only myself but any of my followers on this blog. All of this information is not mine, but taken from Dr. Hahn's talk, but my logic is that if I can explain it, then I'll have a fuller understanding of the informaiton.

This theme about "the hour" that permeates throughout John's Gospel is saturated with eternity, as will be further explained throughout this essay. God is not under the rules of our space and time, and when Jesus speaks to us about time, we know it is God's time, eternal time. Even at the beginning of John's Gospel, we see John begin with God's eternality (In the beginning) rather than the literal beginning of his life as a human.

On several occasions throughout the Gospel, we hear Jesus referring to "the hour" when teaching in his book of signs. The first occurrance comes in Chapter 2 at the Wedding at Cana. We all know the story. Mary approaches Jesus and says, "We have no more wine," and Jesus famously responds in verse 4, "Woman, what does that have to do with me, my hour has not yet come."

Now, this is a very critical response that Jesus gives which we must read between the lines to reach a full understanding of his meaning. As Dr. Hahn so comically puts it, I can see the confusion that might have been on Mary's face. It seems that Mary is simply alerting everyone that the wine's just run out, and Jesus responds with this cryptic response about his hour. I can imagine Mary saying, "Jesus, what the hell are you talking about!? Boy, you have got a lot on your mind!!" :-)

But behind Jesus' assertion that, "My hour has not yet come," we can find an underlying assumption. Jesus' assumption is that when his hour does come, providing wine is something that He expects to do. And not only wine, but as we can see from the guest's response, "You have kept the best wine until now", Jesus will be providing the best wine when his hour comes.

An analogy that Dr. Hahn uses for us to better reinforce this concept is a couple engaged to be married. The (future) husband tells his (future) wife, "Hey, I want to show you some old yearbook pictures of myself, so come to my bedroom and let me show you," and she responds, "I have no problem with that request, but my hour has not yet come." We all know what the future bride is talking about when she speaks of coming to the the future husband's bedroom at the proper hour. Yes, husband, I will be ending up in your bedroom, but it is not the right time. In the same light, we see Jesus speaking to Mary about an underlying assumption about what to expect when his hour comes.

The next occurance of the hour comes in John chapter 4 when Jesus is speaking with the Samaritan woman. The woman is asking Jesus about worshipping in the temple (v 20f): "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship", to which Jesus responds, "Woman, believe me, an hour is coming where neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the father." Jesus follows this by saying, "But an hour is coming, and now is upon us, where the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth".

From this example, we can conclude that another underlying assumption that Jesus has on his mind when the hour comes is that he expects people to worship in a whole new way (not just at the temple in Jerusalem). It is no longer where you worship, but how you worship--in spirit and in truth. And where do we know the Holy Spirit resides and where the Truth is safeguarded? The Catholic Church.

The third meaning of the hour comes in John 5:25, "Truly, truly, I say to you (this introductory phrase is God himself telling us, 'I swear that this is true'), an hour is coming and is now upon us when the (spiritually) dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live".

So we know that when the hour comes, those who are spiritually dead are going to hear the Word of God and come to new life in Him.

Finally, our fourth meaning of the hour in the book of signs comes in John 12. There are a group of Greeks who had heard of Jesus, and they ask Philip to arrange a meeting. For all Jesus knew, these were Greeks who just wanted to see him and say hello, but when Philip brings these Greeks to Jesus, he has on his mind the hour. "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit... "

Wow. So this was kind of a strange analogy, but if we look close enough, we can again see Jesus' underlying assumptions. When the hour comes, not just Jews but also foreigners (Greeks) will come to the Passover to see Jesus, and in addition to wine, there will be bread (the fruit of wheat) at the hour.

In John 13, nearing the climax of the hour theme, we see, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. " In this verse, we can see that the hour represents the fulfillment and completion of how God loves us to the very end.

So what is the physical/literal hour that Jesus talks about? The suspense must be killing you! We can see that on the surface level, the hour Jesus is talking about is the time where Jesus offers himself through his passion, death, and resurrection. But we can also see that the meaning of the hour goes beyond the historical period where He offers his life.

Finally, in Jn 17:1, the hour has finally come. "Father, the hour has come. Glorify you son, that the Son may glorify you," and a few verses later (to strengthen the connection between time and eternity), "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Later in the chapter, we see Jesus asking the Father,

"Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. "

We can see here that the hour represents when the Father and Son glorify each other in their communion and in their oneness and share it with us so that we may be one in a manner that is identical to the bond shared by Father and Son (the Holy Spirit).

So we're coming to the climax of our understanding of the hour theme in John's Gospel, but let's take a second to pause and review. Thorughout the Gospel, what does Jesus say will happen during the hour? It will be a time when:

- He gives us the best wine
- We will worship in spirit and in truth
- Those who hear the Word of God will come to new life
- Not just Jews but all will come to hear the Word of God
- The fruit of wheat will be involved
- It will show us God's love for us
- We will join God in the oneness that the Father and Son share.

We should also note that Jesus does not say, "the period of time" or "the day" or "the season" but each and every time specifically says, "the hour". It should also be noted that the physical meaning of the hour--where Jesus offers himself through his passion, death, and resurrection--takes place over the course of a few days rather than simply one hour.

So time to solve the puzzle that God, through St. John, has laid out for us. When is it in our lives on earth that we take an hour to listen to the Word of God, worship in spirit and in truth, with the best bread and wine, to commemorate the Passover Jesus celebrated at the end of his life, in order to come to new life in Him, in a sign of God's love for us, where we can join in the oneness of God, in communion with people all over the world?

You guessed it. THE MASS. The eternal culmination and fulfillment of Jesus' mission on earth comes to fruition in our Catholic worship service. And to think we take this for granted!?!?